System Builder Marathon, March 2011: The Articles

Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon.

To enter the giveaway, please fill out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!

Day 1: The $2,000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1,000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $500 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Day 5: Tom's Hand-Picked SuperCombo

Introduction

When we spec'ed out this quarter's System Builder Marathon machines, the Intel Cougar Point chipset issue hadn’t yet reared its ugly head, and we ordered Intel's Core i5-2500K. Because of this this, we held off on publication until fixed Sandy Bridge platforms showed up at retail. While the specific ASRock motherboard we chose for this build hasn't yet reappeared, there are comparable options based on the same P67 Express chipset available with identical performance, and we expect this one will pop up shortly, too.

Let’s get straight to it! Here are the components as tested: